


Home by the Sea

by Arlene0401



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cheesy Promises, Fluff and Angst, Injury Recovery, M/M, Manga Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 03:51:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11889396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arlene0401/pseuds/Arlene0401
Summary: "Make the most of the years you have," that's what Levi said to him after Eren nearly go himself grilled alive by Armin's titan.Eight years. It sounded awfully long. But awfully short when he thought of everything he wanted to - no, had to - accomplish. Making Paradis a titan-free territory seemed like a laughable task now, with their new knowledge. He wanted to bring the Marley Empire to fall, avenge all their atrocities and free his Eldian brothers and sisters.And he wanted to spend time with Levi. Somewhere quiet and peaceful. He knew that he would never be able to grow old with him, but damn if he wouldn’t try.





	Home by the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AurieA](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AurieA/gifts).



> I'm so very deeply ashamed how long I took to write this gift for [aurieackerman](http://www.aurieackerman.tumblr.com) that I promised her back in... May, I think?  
> Aurie, please accept this little work with my humblest apologies.

Steam. Heat. Pain.

The sickening stench of burning flesh. No, not burning - evaporating. His own flesh, he realized. It didn’t particularly bother him. The heat was surrounding him, inside of him. The very marrow of his bones was burning up, the blood boiling in his veins. It felt familiar and oddly comforting. _Soon_ , he thought. _Soon_. The prospect was almost exhilarating.

Crimson clouded his vision. Beyond that he could only make out the faint blue of the sky, and moving silhouettes. He had no idea who they were, what they were doing. It was of no concern to him.

A droning in his ears, meaningless noises, panicked an frantic and so far away. Among the insignificant clamor one word was repeated, again and again, and he vaguely recognized it as a name. Whose name? His own?

Suddenly, hands on his face, and he could feel them surprisingly clear through the general numbness of his body and mind. They were rather small, calloused, but their touch was gentle, every fingerpad speaking to him without words. Cool. Soothing.

Soft lips pressed against his, unheeding the blood and unspeakable dirt covering his face. He knew those lips, knew this kiss. They uttered words, words that in sudden clarity reached him.

“Eren. Eren. Come back. Please, Eren. Come back to me. Don’t leave me. Please.”

Eren opened his eyes again, searching, trying to focus. _Eren_. That was him. And Levi was here, holding him, tears in his eyes, his voice cracking in a way Eren had never heard before.

He blinked, tried to speak, tried to reach for Levi. What he managed was a groan.

“Shh, it’s okay. Don’t strain yourself. I’ve got you.”

 _You don’t understand_ , Eren wanted to say, _I need to touch you_ , but still his voice failed him, and as blackness engulfed him once again and Levi’s face distorted and vanished he felt an anguished scream rising in his chest.

_Levi, how could I fail you like this, Levi._

The next time Eren came to, he was lying in a bed, neatly tucked in under clean sheets, and the faint smell of disinfectant told him he was in a hospital. It was nighttime, and only a small oil lamp on his bedside table faintly illuminated the dark room. He was still hot, suffocatingly so, and thirsty. A glass and a water pitcher stood next to the lamp, the clear liquid looking like the most inviting thing he had ever laid eyes on. But next to his bed or on the other side of the walls, he couldn’t bridge the distance, couldn’t will his arm to reach out. He tried, but he was weak as a newborn kitten, and even lifting his hand brought a sheen of perspiration to his skin.

A small noise left his lips, pathetic and pitiful, and something stirred to his right. Eren’s head turned around, and there on a chair was Levi. He sat facing the bed but had nodded off, arms crossed and one ankle resting on the other knee. It was a peaceful sight, his harsh features softened by sleep, the bangs casting shadows over his closed eyes. 

Eren felt a surge of protectiveness. It was so rare that Levi got even a couple of hours of undisturbed sleep, and Eren’s natural reaction to it was wanting to wrap him in a blanket, put him somewhere safe and warm to rest and give everybody his boot to taste who dared to try rouse him.

But he was thirsty, so terribly thirsty. He licked his cracked lips and tried. “Levi.” His mouth felt like centuries old parchment, dried and dusty. “Levi.” Finally, it came out a little stronger, and again, Levi stirred.

He opened his eyes, instantly alert. Levi could always fall asleep and wake up in a second. He moved forward, expression somewhere between concerned and relieved.

“Eren. You’re awake.”

Eren nodded, then weakly indicated to the water pitcher. “Thirsty,” he managed to croak.

Levi walked around the bed and poured some water into the glass. Then he sat down next to Eren.

“Here,’I’ll help you.”

Carefully he lifted Eren’s head and brought the glass to his lips. The cool liquid was soothing to the dried cavern of his mouth, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough to quench his thirst and ease the fire in his veins. Levi let him empty the glass, then allowed him some more.

“That’s enough for now. I’ll let you have some more in a while.” Despite his weak protests, Levi laid him back down and put the glass away. Then he took Eren’s hand in his, absent-mindedly tracing patterns on the skin with his thumb.

“Eren, I’ve never seen you so reckless during experiments. I thought… I was really…” He broke off, shook his head and sighed. “Dammit, Eren. Please don’t throw yourself away like this.”

“I’m sorry, Levi. I didn’t want you to regret your choice.”

Something dark flickered through Levi’s gaze, but he checked himself. “And you tried to accomplish that by nearly letting yourself be cooked alive by Armin’s titan? You were lucky your own titan form protected you from the worst of it.”

“We had made so little progress lately, Levi…”

Levi grasped his hand tighter. “How often did we have this discussion? I always trusted that Armin and you would do your best. I still do. But that means you have to stop acting like a suicidal brat.” He looked at Eren sternly. “Make the most of the remaining years you have. For humanity. For me.”

Indeed they had had this discussion more times than Eren could recollect. In the first weeks after the battle of Shiganshina they had faced the ruins of their love, hostile and too lost for words. And still, despite their mutual trust being almost completely shattered, they had taken baby steps towards each other again. It was a time of mourning and penance. Eren had learned a lot about himself during this time, and he didn’t necessarily like what he learned. He knew Levi felt the same. And yet, their persevering made them grow, as persons and as a couple.

They would never be the same again, something in them remaining scarred and twisted beyond repair. It made them humble, reminded them of their flaws and failures. 

And yet, something had again driven Eren to try and prove his worth, to gain Levi’s approval. Stupid. Blind. Reckless.

_Make the most of the remaining years you have._

Eight years. It sounded awfully long. But awfully short when he thought of everything he wanted to - no, _had_ to - accomplish. Making Paradis a titan-free territory seemed like a laughable task now, with their new knowledge. He wanted to bring the Marley Empire to fall, avenge all their atrocities and free his Eldian brothers and sisters.

And he wanted to spend time with Levi. Somewhere quiet and peaceful. He knew that he would never be able to grow old with him, but damn if he wouldn’t try. 

_Damn_ if he wouldn’t.

“I didn’t realise I was pushing myself too hard,” he said. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”

Levi observed him for a long moment, then he smiled and kissed Eren’s cheek. “Okay. Rest up a bit more, love. You look awful.”

Eren’s heart skipped at the rare endearment, but he couldn’t deny that his eyelids were drooping again.

The following days the slipped in and out of wakefulness while his body mended. There was always someone by his side. Mostly Levi, Armin and Mikasa kept him company, fluffed up his pillows, changed his sweat-soaked sheets, made cooling calf packings to break the fever. They read to him and told him about Armin’s solo training sessions, the progress of the guillotines and the rebuilding of Shiganshina. Eren was itching to get back into training with Armin again, to be useful and productive, but he checked himself. If he left the hospital prematurely, he would just collapse or blunder. So he did as advised, walked the endless corridors when allowed to, ravenously ate the extra nutritious food he was given and slept like a log.

Finally, on a sunny evening he was allowed to return to his quarters. Levi came to pick him up.

“Levi, can we go up on the walls a bit? It’s been so long since I had some fresh air.”

In Levi’s amused eyes Eren could read that the other man could see right through him, knew that he had something to get off his chest. But he played along and walked with him through the maze of narrow and still partly rubble-filled streets towards the outer wall. Instead of using their maneuvering gear, they ascended slowly in one of the large escalators, and like every time Eren anticipated the heady rush of wind and the wide horizon. Even knowing that they lived on an island and were in no way free even when they left the walls had done nothing to diminish this effect. 

They chose a space out of sight and earshot of the other soldiers, sat down and let their legs dangle over the abyss. The wind was chilly and brought the first reminder of frost with it, and the sun set the sky on fire in a fiery display far away to their right.

They talked lightly of this and that, enjoying the warmth of Levi’s coat that he had thrown over the both of them. Eren’s fingers fiddled with the strap that ran diagonally over Levi’s thigh, until a warm hand covered his own. He took a breath.

“Levi, you know I love you, but… where do we stand? Do you think we still have a chance?”

Levi sat very still, only held his hand.

“We both learned the lesson that sometimes being idiotically in love isn’t enough. And we both fought so hard to get to this point. So yes, for what it’s worth, I think maybe we stand a chance in this crazy world.”

With his free hand, Eren fumbled in his pocket for a small package and handed it to Levi. Puzzled, he turned it over in his hands, then slowly unwrapped it.

It was Eren’s key, wrapped in a handkerchief that was washed and neatly ironed, but had some old stains.

“Do you remember that day when I collapsed with a nosebleed after I pushed too hard during the first experiments? You handed me your tissue,” Eren said, his voice soft and fond. 

Levi smiled. Trust Eren, this incurable romantic, to make a bloodied piece of fabric a keepsake.

“And what about the key to your father’s desk? Why are you giving me this?”  
“It’s a promise.” Eren fastened the cord with the key around Levi’s neck. “I promise you that I will make the most of the years I have to live. I will help rid this island of titans, and I will help ensure our people are free. And when all is said and done, I promise you,” he took Levi’s hand in his, “that we will build a home. Just like we rebuild our relationship from ruins, we will make ourselves a home, and this will be the key.”

Levi raised an eyebrow. “You want to build a lock around the key, and a house around the lock?”

Eren deflated a little. “It’s, um… symbolic?” He caught Levi’s smirk. “Don’t make fun of me, Levi. I really… I just want to be with you. I would love to…” He broke off, biting his lip.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have teased you. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.” Levi cradled his face in his hands. “Thank you. And I want us to spend as much time together as we possibly can. We will kick some asses, and then we’ll tell everybody to go fuck themselves and build a house that fits your key and be insanely happy. I promise you, Eren.”

**********

The cottage was sheltered by a small grove of oak trees, overviewing the bay. Facing inland, a garden held neat rows of vegetables, bordered by the merry anarchy of affluent flower beds. In front of the house, a sturdy bench invited to sit down and watch the sunset.

The interior was sparsely furnished but cozy. Portraits lined the walls of the living room, the largest one being that of two men over the mantlepiece. Flower vases on both sides filled the room with sweet perfume.

A key turned the lock.

“Eren? I’m home.”


End file.
